Lascivious Pursuits
by Zade-Kassel
Summary: College AU. Davekat. Karkat Vantas is a student and a TA, trying to carve his way through the havoc that is graduate school. He meets Dave Strider, a pink-haired undergrad with facial piercings and a 'cool kid' attitude. After a discovery about Strider's job on the side, Karkat can't get him out of his mind, and their lives become more entangled with one another as time goes on.
1. Chapter 1

_**A/N: **New story! So this is one that I've been thinking about for a while. Here's the first chapter. Hope you enjoy. Please leave favorites and reviews! -Zade_

**CHAPTER 1**

It was 6:30 AM. Karkat knew this because the blaring alarm wouldn't shut up about it. It kept ringing and ringing and ringing and ringing at him until he threw the cursed thing against the wall. And then everything was mercifully silent again. …Until his phone alarm started ringing as well.

He groaned and picked himself up from the covers.

xXx

The shower was freezing cold because he hadn't waited for it to warm up before he jumped in, shooting icy cold bursts of water onto his skin. He cursed and jumped around as he soaped himself and washed. Then he jumped out of the shower into the still-frigid air and dried off, quickly fixing his messy brown curls into some kind of manageable, professional look.

Brushing his teeth made him mildly better-tempered. Drinking a warm cup of coffee and eating a quick breakfast—bagel and cream cheese—as he shrugged on jeans, a sweater and blazer, made him feel moderately human. And when he shoved on boots, a thick jacket, scarf and hat and headed out to face the winter weather, he felt more like himself again. Ready to start the day.

xXx

Karkat stepped into the lecture hall with a second cup of coffee in hand and a messenger bag slung along his shoulders. He trotted down the steps as a grey-haired spectacled woman looked up at him, spreading her materials out on the desk.

"One caffeinated drink to pep-start what promises to be a crappy rest of the day. Morning, Professor Silverman."

"Thank you." The Professor took the proffered drink, blowing on it before she took a sip. "Did you manage to get the film?"

"It arrived at the library last night. I hope this one's a better copy."

"We'll see when we try to play it." Students were starting to trail in behind them as they spoke, coming in with soft chatter and brief laughter. The Professor turned and muttered in his ear, "Bets on who won't last second week?"

Karkat cracked a grin. There were already fewer students than last week. This week would be the last time to drop before it affected your grade so they expected a few more to disappear before they reviewed their final class roster. Silverman was a pretty hard teacher and there were a lot who didn't like her approach.

She handed him a stack of papers. "Can you hand these out?"

By the time that Karkat passed out the papers the students had all arrived. The last had snuck in right before the class began, some kid with bright pink hair and a myriad of facial piercings, easily the most vibrant in the room. There was always one.

"Here you go. Week's syllabus and overview."

The guy grunted in response, taking the papers. He hadn't removed his sunglasses. Maybe he'd had a late night.

Professor Silverman began her introduction to the class, ordered them to read the syllabus themselves, and then had Karkat hook up the film projector so they could get started on a few brief scenes to analyze. He sat back and let her take over.

xXx

He'd just come from the library to return the film and pick up the next few shorts for next week's classes, when he saw the pink-haired kid. What was his name… Strider or something? He'd only spoken up once during class, to crack some inappropriate joke that led the conversation into a discussion on innuendo and queer sexuality markers within early films.

Karkat boarded the bus as it pulled up. He took a seat near the window and looked out again. He saw that Strider had now met up with another guy, middle-aged and beer-gutted, in a fancy business suit. They greeted one another and the middle-aged man looked around nervously, before slapping a possessive hand on Strider's shoulder. They walked off. Karkat craned his neck to see, but they took off around the corner and his bus decided to take off at that moment, denying him further view.

That wasn't… No, it couldn't have been. But it definitely didn't seem like a normal "friends" interaction and besides the guy was old enough to be his father, maybe his grandfather. And then there was the vibe. Furtive. Secret. Karkat frowned to himself, thinking on it further. But no, he was probably wrong. He was just thinking too much. He'd seen way too many movies.

Yeah, that was it. It was nothing. And even if it was something, it wasn't his business what pink-haired brats got up to in their spare time. If the guy wanted to hop a plane to Ibiza, take all the drugs he could find and dance around naked in the streets while riding a mad bull, it still wouldn't be his concern. Maybe he'd think it was a bit silly. Maybe he'd even laugh at the guy if he told him about it to his face. But as long as he got his work in on time he wouldn't care. Yeah, he was just going to ignore it.

And so ignore it he did. When he got home and settled down amongst the piles of research and papers he had lined up, he ignored it. He re-read notes, excerpts and bullet points. He didn't think about what pink-haired boys might get up to with middle-aged business men. He didn't think about how dangerous it could be. Or if he'd been coerced or blackmailed into it. Or if there was something wrong and what if Karkat was the only one who could ever help him and what if it was his responsibility to follow up and make certain that things were okay and that there was no serious threats or issues going on and—no. That would be letting his imagination go wild. Yeah. He definitely didn't think about any of that.

xXx

Dave Strider was the kid's name. He saw it on the roster next to a headshot, same pink hair and sunglasses. He was starting to think the guy never took those off.

Dave Strider was normal. Just as normal as any other kid in the classroom. He was starting to think that maybe the weird situation had been in his imagination. Maybe it had been nothing.

But one day, as Karkat was leaving a bookstore near his house, he saw Strider again. Wearing his tightest skinny jeans and a jacket that was far too skimpy for the weather. Karkat frowned. This wasn't anywhere near the campus. And somehow Dave didn't strike him as the off-campus student type.

Karkat hesitated. He really shouldn't. He should ignore it. It was none of his concern. He'd already discussed this with himself and he knew it was the shittiest idea in the history of shitty ideas that he'd ever done.

…But as Strider disappeared down the street, Karkat shoved his paper bag of books into his messenger bag and sprinted through the brisk winter air to catch up.

He tailed him down a few streets as the layout changed from the suburban downtown scape to a residential area. The kid went down one street, then turned right at another, then went up another street, turned left at another… Karkat lost track of where he was. Good thing his phone had GPS to get back. When he passed a spray-painted green tree that he'd seen before, he realized they were going in circles. Was this kid lost?

Dave disappeared around a corner and Karkat followed, only to find himself suddenly accosted and an elbow aimed at his throat as the pink-haired Strider stared at him. "Why are you following me?"

Karkat held up his hands. "Shit! Sorry, I—"

"Aren't you my TA?"

"Intro to Film Analysis. Nice to see you again."

The guy's elbow shifted down as he stepped away from him. "Sorry, I thought you were some creep."

That's because he kind of was. "Look, I didn't mean to scare you. Maybe we could go somewhere and talk? Clear this whole thing up? I think we started off on a bad note here."

Dave glanced at his watch. "Alright. But not for long. I have somewhere to be."

xXx

The coffee shop was loud and crowded. Jazz music filled the air. They squeezed into a table in a corner at the back, where Dave quickly crossed his arms and leaned forward.

"So? What'd you want to talk about?"

"At the Roosevelt Library. I saw you the other day," Karkat blurted out. Way to be subtle. "With some guy."

Karkat frowned at him, letting his words permeate the guy's brain. When it finally kicked in, Dave turned pale like he'd just been caught red-handed dragging some dead guy's body away. He recovered quickly, covering up his reaction with a shrug and a laugh.

"Oh yeah, that. I was just helping him with something. He got a bit lost and—"

"I know what it was."

Pause.

"And?" Dave dropped the nonchalant act, leaning forward. His voice lowered. "What do you want?"

"Nothing. Is it so hard to believe that I just want to make sure that everything is okay? You're a student of mine. I want you to be safe."

Dave let out a soft snort of laughter. "I'm perfectly fine. I practice safe sex. No teenage pregnancies popping out of my ass. I know the word no."

"Do you have to make a joke out of everything? I just want to be sure that you know what you're doing. All of the ramifications of it and—"

"Look, I'm not a kid. I know what I'm doing, alright? And I don't need a lecture from some 30 year old dweeb that wears loafers and argyle socks." Dave gestured to Karkat's ankles as he stood up, which were flooding and showing a bit of his socks.

"Hey, this is standard uni attire. The uniform of soon-to-be very important professors and scholars everywhere. And I'm only 25!"

Dave cracked a small grin. He'd been fucking with him. Right, now he couldn't even read the jokes of pink-haired idiots right.

"Do you have a pen?" Dave asked.

Karkat dug in his bag before finding one and held it out. Dave pulled Karkat's hand forward, leaning over to write on it. Karkat really wasn't a fan of being written on. What if the ink seeped into his skin? What if he got skin poisoning? What if he got cancer? All because stupid teenagers thought it was cute to write on peoples' skin in fucking ink pens.

Dave let his hand go and Karkat looked at it. It was a number.

"Feel free to call sometime, alright? I hope this doesn't affect my grade."

"Wait, I can't take this—" But Dave had already left earshot, slipping out of the coffee shop door. Karkat scowled down at his palm, and then realized another thing he had to be angry about. The bastard had stolen his pen.

xXx

That was the one and only time they spoke all semester, unless it was him giving instructions for a test or Dave asking questions about the specifics of a paper the class had to write.

And then the semester passed. It was summer. All windows were open and fans were circling but he was still a hot and sweaty mess. Perfect, annoying, blasted summer heat.

Karkat swatted a mosquito that had somehow made its way in and leaned over the kitchen counter, looking over the recipe books in front of him and the ingredients he had spread out. Yeah, he thought he had everything. Good.

A phone was up to his ear, ringing for what seemed like the 30th time. He mussed his messy, unbrushed hair, tapping a foot. Come on… pick up.

A click and a female voice answered. "Hey."

"Hey!" Karkat let out a relieved breath, turning away from the counter of scattered ingredients. "How are you? I swear that was the fifth time I called. You really busy today?"

"A little. Yeah." Her voice sounded kind of dull.

"You tired? You sleeping okay?"

"Here and there."

"Well, hopefully you can get a bit more sleep when you come here tomorrow. I can't wait to see you. I'm fixing the food now. Well, actually, I don't know. Is it against the rules to bake your own cake?"

"Karkat." Her voice sounded tired again.

"Yeah?"

"I'm not coming."

Karkat stopped in his tracks. "What do you mean you're not coming? Did your flight get delayed?"

"No. I mean. I canceled. I'm not coming."

"Why not? Too much work or…"

"Do you know how exhausting it's been?" Her voice broke into frustrated anger. Karkat was taken aback, phone glued to his ear. She continued on, "When you moved, I thought, yeah, sure, we can do this long distance thing no problem. But ever since then you've been distant. Do you know how many times I've called and emailed and you wouldn't reply? For days. Almost a week one time. We promised that we would have Skype dates, and you bailed on almost every single one of them."

"I'm sorry. I got busy. Grad school is a full-time thing. Not to mention TA-ing and trying to get my thesis idea approved before the committee board..."

"I've been busy too, Karkat. But I still managed to put in the effort."

"Rach…" He didn't really know what else to say. "I care about you. A lot."

"I know. But that's not enough. Look… I think we should stop seeing each other."

"We can work this out."

"I've _tried_ discussing this with you before. It never changes, Karkat. You never change. I'm done. You can be really good with relationships when you're with someone, but when you're away, you don't know how to handle it. So we're over. But I wish you luck, alright? And… Happy Birthday, by the way."

There was a click. The call ended.

Karkat stayed on the line, staring blankly at the space in front of him. A pot of noodles boiled over on the stove, but he didn't even notice. Had that really just? Had she really just…? She really had just… Fuck.

xXx

He destroyed his kitchen. He flipped over cookbooks, tossed ingredients against the wall, screamed and raged until a neighbor knocked on his door and wondered if everything was alright. Then he yanked open the door and yelled into the neighbor's face that everything was not alright, and that his girlfriend had just dumped him over a phone call, and if he wanted to rage and scream in his own goddamn apartment then he was going to. And he shut the door again.

But he didn't continue to scream and rage. Instead, he silently sat there, fuming for a second, before looking around at the mess he'd made and deciding to clean it up. He scrubbed the walls, mopped the floor, cut his pots off on the stove, tossed out the burned ingredients, put all the cookbooks back where they actually belonged.

Just as he was picking up the address book and wondering whether or not he should order pizza—happy birthday to him—a piece of paper slipped out and fell on the floor.

He leaned down to pick it up and saw the number that he'd hastily copied off the scribble in his hand and shoved into the address book like it'd be hidden away from sight. A number. No name. A shock of pink hair. That guy.

Karkat debated. No way, that was stupid. Just because he'd broken up with his girl didn't mean he had to go crawling to a guy right afterwards like he needed some skeezy pain relief. But then again… wasn't that how people got over these things? You douse one heartbreak with the pleasure of entering another? And this wasn't even like rebounding on the dating scene. There'd be no dates, no emotional attachments, just pure physical stuff, right? And he wouldn't even have to get dressed up or leave his apartment to do it.

He tapped his fingers, staring at the number. It was fine. The guy probably wouldn't pick up. Either way it's not like he'd actually be available tonight and by tomorrow when he came to his senses he could just call and cancel right? No big.

His fingers were already dialing the number.

It picked up on third ring. "Hello?"

"Hi. This is uh… I was uh…" Smooth going so far. "I was wondering if maybe we could meet and ah…"

"Are you calling about an ad?"

"No. I—you gave me the number. On my hand."

"Oh! TA!"

"My name is Karkat."

"So you finally decided to call. Here I was thinking that you'd stand me up like some cheap mannequin on display. I was hoping I wasn't getting the wrong vibes. You want to set something up? When? Where? What are you looking for?"

"Now would be good."

"Now?"

"Like tonight. If you're free."

A pause, before Dave spoke again. "I'm free. It'll cost you a bit extra."

"That's fine. And I'm down for anything. Whatever."

"Give me the address."

Karkat told him where he lived. Then he hung up and looked around his apartment. He'd already cleaned up the mess in the kitchen, so it looked pretty decent. But he smelled pretty awful. He was sweaty and his hair looked a mess. He needed to shower.

xXx

By the time Dave showed up, he was showered and ready. He'd dimmed the lights, lit candles, sprayed some nice scent in the air, had a movie on and ready to play. Okay… all set.

The doorbell rang and Karkat leapt up to get it, opening the door to find Dave Strider staring down at him. He didn't look much different than he did in class, except maybe a cocky self-assurance that wasn't dulled down by lack of sleep and early-morning coffee. His lips had different colored rings in them today. A pierced eyebrow rose as Dave looked back at him.

"Can I come in?"

"Yeah. Sure. Sorry." Karkat stepped back to let him in the door and Dave entered, shrugging off his jacket and messenger bag to reveal a tight tank top and jeans. He was still in "twink" status range, but he was fit, with muscles stretching across his arms. He was attractive.

"I like to get paid up front."

"One sec. I'll go grab it. Can I get you anything? Wine? Water? Some food?" Karkat asked.

"I'm good. Thanks."

Karkat ran to the back, grabbed the envelope, then hurried back out again, placing it in Dave's hands. The guy opened it, briefly running a hand through the money, and then he shoved it in his bag.

"Where to?"

xXx

Karkat led him to the couch, where they proceeded to kiss. Or actually, make out would probably be a better term. Dave was a really good kisser. Much better than his now ex-girlfriend. Though she'd probably claw his eyes out if he ever told her that. Maybe he should tell her. He should definitely tell her.

Their lips pressed against one another and Karkat tasted the other man's piercings. They tasted metallic and hard. He ran his tongue against them. Dave met his tongue with his own, running along his and pushing into his mouth, where he caressed the inside of it. Another piece of metal touched the roof of Karkat's mouth. A tongue piercing? He sucked on Dave's tongue and a pleased groan emerged. Nice. Very nice.

Dave's lips finally separated from his and went to his neck where he kissed a slow trail down. This time it was Karkat that let out a noise of pleasure. His breath quickened as Dave kissed along his collarbones, sliding his pierced tongue along it. He ran his hands up Dave's sides, grazing along the muscles he'd glimpsed through his tight shirt. Then he brushed the edges of his shirt, rolling it up.

Dave pulled away from his collarbone for a second, lifting his arms as Karkat pulled off his shirt. Karkat caught his face before he ducked back down, and pressed his lips to his, heatedly kissing him again. Their tongues swirled around one another for a bit before Karkat flipped him over, pushing him down onto the surface of the couch.

He grinded against the other man's jeans and Dave returned the favor as he snaked a hand around his ass, cupping it. Karkat moaned into his mouth. He broke the kiss off and Dave went down to his neck again, running his teeth against it.

"Can you bite?"

"Do you want me to leave marks?"

"Yes. Do it."

Dave bit him hard. Karkat winced and bit his own lip, sighing as pleasure ran into him. Then Dave sucked another spot and bit again. He ran up and down Karkat's throat, alternating between using his tongue, his lips and his teeth, nibbling at some areas, biting hard on others. And sucking. Karkat could already feel a few hickeys that would probably appear tomorrow.

"You're really good at this."

"Mmm."

Dave's fingers went to Karkat's shirt, lifting it up and over his head. He tossed it behind them. Then both their chests were bare and Dave's fingers started to tease his nipples. He pinched one between his fingers and Karkat groaned. Then Dave's lips were on his own, pulling his bottom lip between his teeth and sucking briefly, before letting go. His teeth grazed against it.

He could already feel himself hardening as Dave grinded against him again. And his wasn't the only growing bulge in the room.

He pulled away to look at him and found that the boy's eyes were still obscured by his sunglasses.

"Do you ever remove those?"

"Not generally."

"So the entire time I have to get fucked by some 'cool guy' wearing shades and a solemn expression?"

"Is that a problem for you?"

"…I don't know. I haven't done this before."

"Anal virgin?"

"No. I've done _that_ before. I just haven't done this _thing_ that we're doing now. And with the sunglasses that makes it a little awkward."

Dave looked at him for a moment.

"What?"

"Is it that hard to say that you hired a hooker?"

"Yes. Yes. It's very hard for me to say things like that because I don't do things like this, okay? Karkat Vantas does not break up with his girlfriend on the eve of his birthday and hire hookers to sleep with them to dull the pain. I don't do it."

"Wow, night before your birthday? That sucks."

"I know right."

"Well, if it makes you feel any better, I usually don't accept clients who know my actual name. So I guess the night's full of firsts."

Karkat let out a slight laugh and the mood was lightened some. He leaned down to press a kiss to Dave's lips, who shifted to pull him closer, but Karkat wiggled out of the hold.

"Can we… not anymore?"

"No?"

"No. Can we just… watch a movie or something?"

Dave's eyebrows shot up, but he shrugged. "It's up to you."

xXx

They snuggled together on the couch as Karkat fiddled with the remote, turning on the movie he'd had on pause. Just in case, you know?

The one and only complaint came when Dave realized what it was. Karkat think he let it slip out before his filter came back up again. "_Titanic?_"

"Titanic is a classic. What's wrong with Titanic?"

"Titanic is a classic _failure_."

"Oh here we go. The complaint of every snobby film nerd in the history of this miserable planet. Titanic is genius. And it's a romantic, perfect love story between two crossed lovers who risk everything to be together. How is that not beautiful?"

"They could've both fit on that door."

"There are logical, scientific, proven, physics reasons for why that could not occur."

"James Cameron fanboy alert."

"I am not a James Cameron fanboy! I didn't like Avatar, okay? The graphics were great, but the writing could've been a lot better."

"It's fine. Whatever. I'll watch it. At least it's not The Notebook."

"What's wrong with The Notebook?"

"Oh God. You're a fan of The Notebook too?"

"The Notebook is an amazing movie. Even as a film analyst you have to admit that. Some of the scenes are so well-structured it's enthralling. Why do you think they show it in film critique classes? What movies do you like? Things like Borat?"

"Hey. Borat's a quality movie."

"But yet you don't like Titanic?"

"Can we just agree to disagree?"

"We will agree to disagree. We will agree to disagree at a later date in which case we can completely and thoroughly discuss all the pros and cons of each genre and film categorization and also why Titanic is better than Borat any day."

"Can we just start the movie now?"

xXx

They cuddled together for the next few hours, watching Titanic. Dave didn't let anything slip beyond his professional filter now, besides fake mild interest. But Karkat didn't intend to let him rest on it. He'd track him down so they could have an actual debate. Maybe he'd feel better about openly discussing it if they weren't in this whole… situation. You know. Client. Date. Thing. Yeah. That's what he'd call it. Wait. So did that mean that he planned to meet him again? He guessed so. Huh. That'd be kind of nice, actually. It's not like this had been a bad experience.

Then he got involved in the movie and he started sobbing his eyes out in parts. Dave looked mildly embarrassed for him and went to the bathroom to get him tissues. Karkat blew his nose and cried more.

This movie. It was just so sad in parts… But it was so beautiful. He couldn't help but rewatch it even though by now he knew all the lines by heart and mouthed them along with the actors at times. By the time the ending came he was a wreck.

He glanced over at Dave, who had buried his head into his knees with shaking shoulders. Maybe he was crying too and wanted to hide it to be manlier about things. Karkat wouldn't blame him. Titanic was such a sad movie.

When the movie was finally over and Karkat had recovered from the tears and emotional ranting that Dave had nodded and patted his head through, Dave stood up to leave. Karkat walked him over to the door.

"So, this was nice. We should do it again."

"You can always text me. Call me. You have my number. It won't be as much as it was this time if it's not on such short notice. And if you don't decide to keep me for Titanic."

Karkat watched as he picked up his jacket, sliding his arms through. Then he slung his bag around his chest. Karkat opened the door and right before Dave passed through it, he pulled him back, giving him a short kiss. "Goodnight."

Dave returned the kiss. "Night, Karkat. Sweet dreams."


	2. Chapter 2

_**AN: **Second chapter. Dave's perspective!_

**CHAPTER 2**

Dave waited until he boarded one of the last buses heading back into the city in order to let out a huge laugh. Holy fucking balls. That was one of the most hilarious calls he'd ever been on. And one of the most fun. He hadn't been doing this job for that long, about a year, actually, when he realized that he needed to pay college bills and a job at Burger King wasn't gonna cut it… but that was one of the most entertaining experiences he'd had. Most of them were pretty boring, honestly. The same old routine. Some guy (usually old) calls you up, meets you in some clandestine place or in his house, pulls all the same moves and same quirks while he fucks you in a way that he thinks will blow your brains out. Or has you fuck him in that way. And actually, Dave preferred it when he got to top. Gave him more control over the situation and to be quite frank, he was really good at it. When an inexperienced top tried to ride you… it just hurt, man. It was uncomfortable and pretty sad.

Dave checked his work phone. No new emails or texts. Then he shoved it away and pulled out his real phone. A missed call from John, probably to tell him how much he sucked for missing the party that night. Whatever, man. Money's gotta come from somewhere.

He speed-dialed him back.

"Yo, John. What up?"

"Where have you been, Dave? I tried calling you. You left out and said you'd be back soon but that was hours ago."

"Yeah, I know. I got distracted, took a mini sightseeing tour around the city in the middle of the fucking night and got lost up the kahooza. But it's fine. I'm coming back now. What's up?"

"It's a mad house! You totally missed it. Jade got totally drunk and started dancing on tables. Then she made out with another girl."

"It wasn't Rose, was it?"

"Rose is steady with Kanaya, dude, keep up."

"My bad."

"Anyway. So yeah, there are also a lot of cute guys here."

"Yeah, the problem is that they're probably all innocently straight though. Like you."

"Well you wouldn't know unless you tried to kiss them, right?"

"Are you saying I should try to kiss you?"

"Shut up! Anyway. Get your ass back here. Either the booze is gonna be gone or the campus police are gonna break it up before you even step foot in the place."

"Relax, man, I'm coming. Hold your horses. All metaphorical 29 of them."

A loud cheer came from the other side of the phone, followed by John's giggling. "I gotta go. Later."

The phone clicked off. Dave snorted as he shoved it in his pocket. Fun night indeed.

xXx

When he woke up the next morning he was still thoroughly wasted. The apartment he shared with John and the girls was covered in trash and lost clothing though all the party-goers had left long before.

Nevertheless, Dave still had to stumble over John's unconscious body to get to the bathroom. He flipped up the toilet lid and promptly threw up into its depths.

When he'd expelled all the bile fluid his stomach could find, he stumbled into bed again and collapsed.

xXx

The next time he woke up it was later in the morning as evidenced by the sun peeking through his blinds. He sat up and then groaned, pressing his temples. His head was throbbing and it felt like it was going to burst. He looked up and over to John, who didn't look much better as he surfed his computer.

"Crazy night, huh?" John grinned back at him.

"I hate you for calling me back for it."

"Oh come on! It was fun!"

"If you keep exclaiming all your sentences I'm going to throttle you for making loud noises."

The door slammed open and Rose made her way in, as elegant and composed as ever. She didn't look hungover at all and Dave knew she'd been drinking just as heavily as them. How the fuck did she manage that? Her girlfriend was behind her, pulled by a wrist. And Jade came in after them, raising up two glasses of water.

"Hi guys!"

Dave would've bowed to her forethought if it wouldn't have made his head spin more. He took a sip of the offered glass and dug in his bag for an aspirin.

Rose leaned on Dave's dresser, looking over the two of them. "We were thinking of going out for IHOP later, when you guys are up for it."

"I'm down," John said immediately. "Maybe after a few more hours though, to make sure my stomach's up for it."

Dave shook his head. "I can't. I've got class."

"Why did you enroll in summer semester again?" John questioned. "Even Rose isn't that go-happy for studying."

"Shorter, easier and cheaper classes. Plus there aren't as many students there to annoy you."

"Well, we'll miss you, bro. We'll take pictures of any funny-looking people and send them to you to cheer you up."

"John," Rose immediately chided.

"You cannot simply send photographs of people who look slightly less than your standard of the norm, Egbert. That's rude." Kanaya said, continuing the thought.

Jade nodded. "I agree with them."

John rolled his eyes. "I was joking. I can't have any fun."

But he met Dave's eyes and winked at him and Dave knew he was going to do it anyway. Best friends, man.

xXx

Class was boring. As usual. Though summer classes might've been cheap and easy, they definitely weren't as entertaining as the usual semester courses. Maybe because most of the good Professors refuse to teach during the summer. So it was all the rejects and relief guys looking for tenure. And it was also just really fucking hot. Dave fanned himself as he listened to the lecture, wishing for a nice, cool drink right now. With ice. Lots of ice. That would be delicious.

His phone buzzed in his pocket and he slid it out, sneaking a peek at the message alert. And yup. John had sent him a picture of someone's face. Trustworthy, reliable John.

Another buzz sounded from his bag, and he slid his real phone away, reaching for his work phone. He pulled it out.

A text from Steve, the businessman he'd met up with at the Roosevelt Library, who wanted to meet up again for the usual. He typed out a reply that the weekend would be fine and stated an available time. Then he checked the next new email, from someone who'd replied to one of his newer ads. Apparently this guy was looking for a kinky playmate. Cue the bondage and whips. He'd need to dig them out of the hiding space in his closet. John never really snooped through his stuff, but it was nice to be precautious anyway. He typed out an affirmative to the email, specifying rates and availability. If the guy didn't turn out to be a kook, he'd schedule him shortly after Steve. Looked like the weekend was shaping up to be a busy one.

He went to put his phone away, but then it buzzed once more. Dave flipped it over and raised his eyebrows. Well that was quick.

Apparently Karkat the TA had just texted him to meet next week. He wondered if it was for more Titanic. He cracked a grin as he typed out an available time.

xXx

The appointment with Steve was the usual. Boring and predictable and a few fake grunts and groans from Dave got the guy his orgasm. As for the kinkster guy, turned out he had a thing for crossdressing. So somehow Dave had agreed to wear a thong and miniskirt, complete with a halter top and heels, while flogging the guy as hard as he'd wanted. Well, actually not quite as hard as the guy had wanted. He'd wanted blood drawn but… Dave didn't do blood. Especially not with his own tools. That could cause a load of sanitation problems. Still, the guy didn't complain too much since he'd gotten a footjob out of it. And Dave wasn't complaining since it meant he got even more cash.

He'd had one more client the next day—that one was easy, just oral. And then after that he took a break from working so he could focus on his studies. He had two exams coming up in the next week and though it was on material they'd just gone over and he was pretty certain he knew it all, he still wanted to make sure that he didn't flunk. His third summer class also had a paper coming up soon that he should probably start on.

Late night IHOP sessions with the crew were probably his only respite, besides sleep and coffee. And then it was Friday and his classes were over for the day.

He went home, changed, and ignored John's pleas for a Mario Kart match.

"Sorry, I'm taking off. I don't know how late I'll be tonight."

"Do you have a hot date or something?"

"No. As if I even have anyone to date."

"Well I'm just saying. You look pretty fancy."

"This is fancy? This is literally what I wear to class every day. Sometimes straight guy sense of fashion kills me, man."

"No, it's more… tighter and colorful. You know. Your club type clothes."

"I'm going DJing, alright?"

"Another gig? We haven't even been to one yet. When are you gonna invite your best friends?"

"It's really underground, John."

"Yeah, but you can sneak us in, right?"

"Like really underground. Like so underground that only moles and groundhogs can enter. Sorry, dude, but no can do. Owner's really strict."

John frowned at him, poking out a lip.

"Maybe next time. I'll see what I can do."

"Good. You better." John turned away. "Or else I'm going to destroy your stats."

"You touch my stats and you're dead."

He shot John a warning finger as he left the room. John stuck out his tongue.

xXx

Dave rang Karkat's doorbell when he was outside, tapping a foot to a beat in his head. He probably should go back to DJing again, at least some of the time. He'd gotten so sucked up in classwork and sex work that he'd completely forgotten what really made him tick. Good beats and rhythm.

The door opened shortly and the shorter guy stuck his head out. "Hey." His hair was kind of messy and he looked tired and distracted, different from before when he'd been pretty well put together. "Come in. Come in."

Dave stepped in, taking a cursory glance around as he removed his jacket, bag and shoes. The interior was also different from last time. There were no candles or dimmed lights or whatever romantic set up Karkat had before. There was, however, mess. Lots of mess. Papers were spread over the living room table and open books and notes were scattered across the floor.

Karkat trotted to the back room and then came back out, pressing an envelope into his hand. Dave glanced into it out of habit more than anything, verifying that it was in fact, probably the right amount, and then shoved it into his bag.

"Do you want any pizza or anything?" Karkat nodded to the kitchen table, where a large pizza was open, still steaming hot.

"No, it's fine. I'm not hungry," Dave said. Despite the fact that it smelled really good and he was starting to salivate.

"Aw, I thought… I just ordered it. I didn't know if you liked meat or not so I got half veggie and half meat lovers. I figured if you were a cheese person you could just pick stuff off."

"You didn't know if I liked meat?" Dave raised his eyebrows at the choice of words, causing Karkat to turn deeper shade of reddish-brown.

"No, I mean. I knew that, but I—shut up. Don't look at me with that stupid look on your face. Terrible choice of words I know. Anyway, are you sure you don't want a piece?" Karkat's face sank into disappointment so fervent it was kind of hard not to give him a bone.

"I don't eat or drink over clients' houses. As a matter of course."

"Oh. OH. Shit. I should've thought of that. God, why am I such an idiot? That makes so much sense."

"It's fine."

"Feel free to sit on the couch. I'll be in there in a sec. Also let me know what kind of movie you want to watch."

"I don't care. It's up to you."

"We both know that's not true. Your tastes are totally different than mine."

"I'm fine with watching whatever you want to. Even if it's the Titanic again. Or The Notebook."

"Since you're being stubborn, we'll watch Borat."

"Wait, really?"

"Yes, really. Wait right there."

xXx

Karkat came over with pizza and a glass of wine, brushing his papers off the table, before he sat down and grabbed the remote. He'd already had Borat in the DVD player. Dave wondered if he'd gone out and leased it, since he didn't seem the type to have it in the house already, from their last conversation.

Naturally Dave laughed his ass off. Even when he was trying to maintain his stoic, nonchalant face it was impossible. He was sort of embarrassed to break his cool, but whatever, it was a good movie. Karkat was gruff and unimpressed, just as he'd thought the guy would be. He didn't even laugh at the funniest parts. What a crab baby.

After the movie, Karkat turned to him, now thoroughly intoxicated from his own wine. He wanted to play "The Questions Game". Apparently it was just a game where you ask a person a question and they have to tell the truth. So basically, like truth or dare, but no dare button. Right-o then.

"And then we'll go back and forth, okay?"

Dave nodded. "Gotcha."

"So… how old are you?"

"19."

Karkat winced, pulling back from him. "Ooh... I thought you were at least… 20s… maybe? Ohh… I feel like I'm cradle-robbing."

"I'm still legal," Dave retorted back. "You're only what… 26 now? With your recent birthday?"

"Yep, old."

"You're pretty young compared to most guys I meet, trust me." Dave paused. "Alright. My question now, right?" Karkat nodded in affirmation and Dave continued, voicing a question he'd been curious about. He tended to get a lot of different types in his field. "So what are you? Straight guy who likes fucking men or bi or…"

"No. No no no no no. I'm pan. I like everyone. I don't care what they have."

"That's kinda rare."

"Is it? I feel like more people should be pan, you know? Removes all the fucking boundaries and guidelines and sexuality restrictions… it's really great, you know?"

"Maybe." Dave really wouldn't know.

"Question. You said that I'm the only one who's ever done _this_ with you that's known your name. So what name do they call you?"

"Max."

"Huh." Karkat smiled consideringly. "Nice."

"Thanks. So… question. What are all these papers for? Are you TAing classes over the summer?"

"No. I'm actually taking a break. I'm in the English department and I'm currently being swallowed by work from my own classes. I'm trying to catch up over the summer myself, but there's just so much. That's what my ex didn't understand. She thought I'd just be ready and available any time that she demanded and it just… wasn't possible, you know? I can't do that all the time. I have so many other things to think about."

"Uh huh."

"And I feel like she didn't stop to think about that. Like yeah, oh maybe he actually does care about you but he just can't spend time with you right now. Because there's so much that he has to spend time on. And it just… it got hard."

"Yeah." Dave resisted making a perfectly placed joke.

"Anyway. Question. You're into film, right? English major with a film concentration or broadcasting or something, right? What do you want to do when you get out of school?"

That was a question that was toeing the line… the guy already knew his name, but he didn't know much more about him. Dave decided to keep it brief.

"A director." That was mildly true. Along with being a DJ, a comic strip artist, a writer, a rapper and all the other myriad of activities he kind of wanted to succeed in before he died.

"Huh…" Karkat nodded, looking at him. "I can kinda see that."

"You think?"

Karkat nodded further. "The shocking pink hair though might distract from the overall—" he gestured vaguely with a hand. Dave snorted.

Karkat reached out, grabbing one of his hands as he held it between both of his. He stared at it silently, running his thumb along it. He silently pulled his hand to his lips, kissing the knuckles. His lips still rested on Dave's skin as he looked back up at him, bright eyes locked on Dave's shades. "You're really attractive."

You're really drunk, Dave wanted to shoot back.

"Thanks," he said instead.

Karkat leaned in and pressed their lips together in a soft kiss. He pulled away. "Do you mind if you stay here tonight? I just would really like company, I think."

"That's fine." Dave had already prepared for a potential overnight stay and Karkat had already paid for an all-night session. Karkat pushed himself off the couch and Dave got up after him. Karkat grabbed Dave's hand and pulled him towards his room.

xXx

They didn't have sex. They undressed, slid under the covers, wrapped their arms around each other. And then they talked.

Or really, Karkat did the talking. He mentioned his classes, his decision to come there to finish up his graduate degree, how he'd only taken one year off from school and he wondered if he should've taken longer because he was already starting to feel the burn-out. He mentioned his family. He came from a rather large one, straight from the Southwest. So culturally things were really different and naturally, he hadn't had to deal with snow before. He talked about his ex. Her name was Rachel, apparently. And he'd been head over heels for her. They met right after he graduated college and they'd just assumed that they'd be together forever afterwards. How stupid that had been.

He wasn't totally rambly though. He interrupted himself to get Dave's opinions on things, make sure he was following. Dave interrupted him when he sometimes jumped onto a completely different tangent, which he did a lot, by the way. It was interesting, actually. Dave kind of enjoyed getting to know more about him.

And then they both got tired. Dave rolled over and Karkat slid into the space behind him, wrapping his arms around his abdomen and burying his head into his neck. Karkat planted a kiss upon the top of it and slowly trailed down, before nuzzling into him again. His hand fell over Dave's, entangling their fingers. Dave soon felt Karkat's breathing shift as the man fell asleep.

Dave's mind was a haze of shifting thoughts and confusion. He shoved it away, since now definitely wasn't the time to sort through anything or pick out strands and see if they made sense. He pressed his back into Karkat's chest, stilling his thoughts so he could finally fall asleep too.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Still Dave's perspective. Next one is Karkat's. Thank you for all the likes, favorites and comments by the way! I really appreciate it. -ZK**

**CHAPTER 3**

When Dave left that morning, Karkat was grouchy again and making himself a cup of much needed coffee. Still, the TA followed him to the door as he slid on his shoes and pulled his bag over his head, planting a sleepy kiss on him before he left. Dave hurried down the stairs, distancing himself from the place as quickly as possible.

When Dave was on the bus, he allowed himself to think about it. Usually… guys didn't pay for that. Sure, he'd heard of it happening but wasn't it usually a lot shorter? Like cuddling and making out for an hour… talking about their shitty day with their shitty kids and wife… it was just a temporary fantasy. Not paying for long, all-night dates like he was their live-in boyfriend.

He tapped his fingers against the windowsill, trying to figure out whether he minded or not. His primary sensation was "this is weird" and possibly a bit of "this is unprofessional" too, since the guy already knew his name and a few bits of personal information about him. Where he went to school. Something he wanted to do for a living. The rule was to keep your private life as separate from your professional life as possible, so there was no possibility for mix up. He would need to do better if he wanted to continue. That's what he'd have to be careful of.

xXx

He stuck the key in his apartment door, pushing it open. When he walked in, Rose and Kanaya were making out on the kitchen counter.

"Oh grooooss, isn't it too early for that?"

He ran a hand through his hair as he went to raid the refrigerator. He grabbed some AJ and some cereal. Then turned back around for the milk.

"You're one to talk. Look at that bed hair. And you certainly didn't sleep here last night."

Dave rolled his eyes as he poured his cereal. "Let's just not discuss it, okay?"

"Touché."

He put the milk back in the fridge then juggled the cereal and apple juice in his arms, kicking the door to his room open. John kept on snoring. He kicked the door shut behind him.

xXx

The morning was spent doing nothing. He updated his blog (which honestly wasn't really about anything but he always liked to pretend like he had an interesting and important life), surfed random sites on the internet (and most certainly didn't look up kittens doing things, because who cared how cute they were, that was like one of the lamest things on the planet—okay who was he fooling, anyone who didn't look at cat vids on the internet was like some fucking anomaly and should be tied to a stake) and put on some headphones to check out some new underground albums that had just been released on the web. Having some time to himself was great. He should do this more often.

He didn't stir until John tossed a pillow at him and told him he was going for Chinese. And then later Dave made good on his promise to play Mario Kart with him by beating him 6 times out of 10.

xXx

The next morning his test scores came in. A's on both of his exams. He wanted to celebrate. So he did. He woke up the crew and though they were a bit sluggish about it at first, they all rode out to the beach, where ice cream and food and rides on the boardwalk were on him.

xXx

The door opened. The guy was a lot younger than Dave had expected—in fact he was probably around his own age. He quickly pulled him into the penthouse suite, shutting the door.

Dave glanced around. Everything was shiny and new and clean. This guy was probably the type that had his own maids. He certainly looked the part. And that was the exact reason why he'd charged him about ten times what Dave had charged Karkat. Inflation rates.

Chris led him into a back room, which turned out to be a bedroom. Dave shrugged out of his jacket and dropped his bag. The guy handed him an envelope, and after a cursory count, it went into the bag as well.

They started to make out. It was sloppy and much more awkward than it was enjoyable. It was clear this guy hadn't had much of anyone to kiss before. Dave took the lead, putting a hand on the guy's jaw and slowing the pace so his lips weren't being gnawed at. He leaned over him, sliding forward so he could have a bit more control, but the guy immediately tensed beneath him. So Dave backed off, letting him take the reins again.

The guy was hesitant and awkward as he stripped off Dave's clothes, hands running over his body almost reverently. Dave kept up a light conversation, cracking jokes and trying to take the mood off. Chris finally relaxed, confirming a few of Dave's suspicions. That he was really inexperienced. That he'd never been with a guy before. That he wasn't even open about liking men to anyone in his personal life.

The kisses turned more natural as he finally picked up an appropriate rhythm and they grinded against one another as the mood finally picked up. Chris's lips were buried in his neck when Dave finally reached down to palm him. He groaned and moved against Dave, his own hand sliding down to return the favor. But it soon became evident that even though Dave was nearing orgasm, a handjob simply wasn't going to get this guy off.

So Dave stopped, halting the kid's motions in the process, and slid down. He took the guy's dick into his mouth and started to suck, twisting his hand around the base to pump him at the same time. It was apparently exactly what Chris' needed because soon his breaths were coming in gasps and he was all out moaning. Dave didn't let up until the guy was close to coming and then he pulled off, jerking him until he came all over the sheets, flushed and panting against him. Success.

xXx

Dave left the penthouse suite, richer than he'd ever been before, and automatically pulled out his work phone. One email from Steve. He closed his email and went to his contacts list, scrolling through until his fingers stopped on a name. He hovered over it. Then he shook his head, shoving his phone away. Nope, weird idea. He wasn't going to go there. Nope. Pretend that never existed.

xXx

The next few days were spent either in class, doing homework, or hanging with his friends and pretending he didn't have homework. He played more Mario Kart, updated his blog, wrote another paper, and set up appointments for work.

xXx

The leather paddle hit his ass with a sharp _smack_. Dave sucked in a breath and took a moment to recover before looking up at the hooded figure over him, raising the paddle again. "Oh yes… harder!"

The paddle came down again. "Unh…. you're so good!"

It'd been two weeks. Two weeks since Friday. And he still hadn't gotten a text to set anything else up from the TA. Why hadn't he called or texted yet? Why hadn't he even set something up for the future?

The paddle came down on him again and he let out a moan.

He didn't delude himself into thinking Karkat was rich. He was in grad school and he wanted to be a teacher—those two things canceled each other out immediately. And it wasn't even like he missed the guy. Or really needed him. But he just thought he'd be getting a new regular. It was kind of nice to spend time with someone who was around his age for once. And who was a relatively normal person who did relatively normal things with him. Not that sex wasn't a relatively normal thing but…

The paddle hit him again and he sucked in a surprised breath. Okay. Maybe he should focus on what he was doing right now and he could figure this quandary out later.

xXx

When he left the guy's apartment building he spat into the bushes, ridding himself of the taste of the guy's sweaty balls. Cock-worship wasn't best done after some guy was tired and sweaty from whipping you, that's for sure.

He pulled out his work phone, but there was no new email, text or call from him. It was kind of annoying. Kind of disappointing. Dave shook his head, trying to mentally shake the guy out of his mind. Sometimes this happened. People that you thought would become regulars didn't become regulars. People that you hoped really wouldn't become regulars wanted to become regulars… It was all very convoluted sometimes. And this wasn't the end of the world. He'd just have to deal with it. Just like he dealt with everything else.

This had happened before. It wasn't a big deal. Really.

xXx

Dave tapped his pen on the side of the table as he stared at his notes. Just staring. He was supposed to be memorizing them or something but apparently the words just wanted to swim on the page like some sort of floating buoy mirage. He tapped his pen more fervently.

"You look a little… I don't know."

Dave broke out of his reverie, glancing up. He locked eyes with Rose, who'd been watching TV beside him on the couch. "What does that mean?"

"Out of it?" Jade put in, leaning over the kitchen counter to insert herself into their conversation. John was out for the night, so it was just the three of them. And currently Jade had decided to bake cookies.

"Displaced? Disgruntled. Possibly both." Rose added, fixing him with the point-blank interrogation stare she was so good at.

"I'm not displaced. Or disgruntled. I'm just a little distracted, all right?"

"Were you waiting on something good to happen and it didn't follow through?"

"No."

"Is your homework too stressful?"

"Not really."

"Boyfriend problems?"

"I don't have a boyfriend— what?" Dave stared at Rose in confusion.

She shrugged. "You have been spending time away from home late at night lately. I thought you might've met someone."

"I haven't met anyone like that, no."

"Maybe you should."

"I don't even have time for one. Thanks."

"Maybe you should make time. It could be a way to take some stress off of your chest. Or just get laid more often."

Dave let out a snort of laughter. Yeah, that one wasn't ever a problem.

"Creativity can help!" Jade put in again, leaning over the counter once more. "It always helps me when I'm having issues."

"This is true," Rose agreed. "I write quite frequently and I always find it takes the edge off. Perhaps you should go back to your rapping."

"Last time I rapped, you guys tried to shut me up by wrapping me up in bubble wrap and rolling me down the hall. It didn't work, I might add."

"Well that was because you did it on our loud speakers at 2 am in the morning during the middle of finals week."

"I was just trying to take some stress off. Just like you said."

"We should go to karaoke again," Jade nodded at them.

"Yes! Perfect solution."

"Can we be any more cliché?"

"Maybe if we added more irony into it," Rose teased, picking up her cell to make the phone call.

xXx

Karaoke was as miserably terrible as he thought it would be. And he'd be lying if he said that he didn't love every minute of it. He, Rose and Jade crooned to every embarrassing pop song in existence, from the 80s to now. Well, until their money ran out that was. And then they walked home, dancing and singing in the streets.

Jade was actually good at dancing, whereas Rose and Dave just kind of slid around and moved and pretended like they knew more than the electric slide and the wave. But they didn't get arrested or chased down by cops for disturbing the very fragile peace. So that was always a good thing.

That night Dave dropped fast asleep, glad for good friends and ironic enjoyment of pop music.

xXx

Finals came. Dave cut down his work schedule to almost null. He spent his days studying and mainly cooped up in his room, working on final assignments and papers and studying for the overall test.

The text came a day before his first final, blinking annoyingly at him. He'd almost wanted to ignore it, since he wasn't taking work calls right now, but he looked at it out of habit anyway.

**KARKAT: Can we meet up again? Friday night, my place?**

Dave's face split into a grin as he fist-pumped into the air. Then he realized he was being a complete idiot in the fucking library and simmered down. He typed a response back almost immediately.

**ME:** **Perfect. See you then.**

He sat back with a huge grin on his face, leaning back in his chair. Yes. Yes. Yes! Life was good again.

xXx

His finals went fucking amazing, of course. Because he was Dave fucking Strider, what else would happen? He expected to maybe get out with As or Bs overall. No sweat.

On Friday evening, Dave rang Karkat's doorbell, bouncing on his toes while waiting. Come on… how long did it take to answer the freaking door?

Karkat answered, letting him in. "Glad you could make it."

"Glad you invited me. I was starting to think you'd chickened out again."

"As if. Some things came up."

Money? Personal? Professional? Religious? Dave didn't press.

"So I didn't make the mistake of getting you food this time. I can actually be brilliant sometimes. I know. It's amazing. Even I'm impressed."

Dave observed Karkat as he moved around, organizing free space on the tables that were once again covered in papers. He brought out a Scrabble box and set it down, before grabbing an envelope from the kitchen counter and placing it into Dave's hands.

The comment came out of Dave's mouth before he could rethink it. "You look tired." Then he internally grimaced. He didn't exactly want to get into the personal lives of clients unless they offered. It just made everything more complicated.

"Do I?" Karkat let out an amused huff of air. "Yeah. Probably."

"What happened?"

"Nothing that hasn't been happening. Everything in my life is completely ass over heels and life apparently has it especially out for me because it never wants to allow me to fix it."

"That sucks."

"You're telling me."

Karkat went over to the couch and sat down, putting his feet up. Dave went over and sat next to him. They were silent for a moment. Dave tapped his fingers against the back of the couch. Karkat looked sourly in front of him.

Dave looked over at him for a few moments, before asking another question that he technically wasn't supposed to ask. "… Why do you hire me? You don't seem like your main goal is… you know… physical."

Karkat frowned. "I don't know. I like you. I like spending time with you. Is that so weird? Is that a weird thing to like?"

"No. I was just curious. You could… technically go and grab a boyfriend for these things. Or a girlfriend. Or some other kind of friend."

"Couldn't anyone technically grab a boyfriend for these things?"

"True."

"Don't worry about it. I'm the idiot who's hiring you, right? You don't need to worry about why."

Dave stared at Karkat as he smiled at him. The other man's smile turned mischievous.

"Scrabble," Karkat said, shoving the board game closer to Dave. "You know how to play?"

"Do I ever."

xXx

They played three rounds. Karkat was better than him. He used random long words that were so obscure Dave had to check and double check to make sure they were still a part of the English dictionary. When Dave asked what video games he had to play—because he knew he could probably best him at that—Karkat said he didn't have any.

"Seriously? No video games?"

"Nope. Didn't bring any with me."

"Laaaame. I'll have to—" and then he stopped himself because he realized just how weird it would be to bring his own consoles and games to a client's house. He was obviously getting a little competition-heated right now. "Nevermind."

They decided to watch a movie again and curled up around each other. It was one of those bad B-horror films, so Dave and Karkat alternately shouted obscenities not only at the characters for their awful decisions, but also the producers, the director and the editing team and stage department, who'd apparently decided that this awful film was perfect and ready to hit viewing screens. There's a way to make a good movie on a small budget and then there's a way to just fuck everything up entirely. This movie was one that did the latter.

At some point, Dave found his hand creeping into Karkat's curls. Karkat's arm had already slid around his shoulders. They stared straight ahead at the TV screen, but Dave was pretty certain that their attention had long been lost from it. It wasn't a total surprise when they finally turned away, staring at one another instead. Dave found himself looking over the man in detail, his messy brown curls, bushy eyebrows, mahogany skin, slightly parted lips and the light stubble he had on his jaw from the probable few days he'd forgotten to shave. Karkat soaked him in as well, eyes trailing from his hair to the various ornamentation he had scattered across his face, to his facial features themselves. He felt the man's gaze lock onto the location of his lips.

Dave was surprised that he was the one who pressed his lips to Karkat's first, pulling him closer. Karkat took it in stride, immediately kissing him back and sliding against him.

They ignored the movie entirely, even when the terrible screams and noise from the chainsaws started filling the room, focusing on each other's lips and breaths and movements. The kiss deepened on its own, eliciting a deep-throated moan from Dave that for once he wasn't faking, and an answering one in return from the guy wrapped around his arms. Their tongues curled around one another. His tongue piercing hit the roof of the guy's mouth and caressed it. Karkat sucked on it, running his teeth over the tip of it and then nibbling on Dave's lower lip. Dave kissed him again, harder, more vigorously. Karkat returned it in full.

He somehow ended up flat on the couch with Karkat above him, making out fiercely with him some more. Their bodies pressed together, jeans rubbing together, feet entangled with one another. Dave's hand was in Karkat's hair and Karkat's hands were everywhere, running along his thighs, the sides of his waist, the biceps of Dave's arms. Dave's tongue slid along Karkat's, demanding attention, and Karkat sucked on it again, forcing Dave to groan. Okay, so what could he say? He liked it when guys sucked his tongue.

Dave's hand slid down, leaving Karkat's hair and blindly groping along him. He grazed over his chest, his stomach, his back. When his fingers finally reached the base of Karkat's shirt, he rolled it up, moving to take it off. Karkat rose up instead, pulling Dave up as well as he planted his arms under his butt. Then he carried him from the couch, still wrapped around him.

It took a few tries. They crashed into the arm of the couch. A lamp. The side of the wall. Each time they broke apart laughing, before they finally made it through to the doorway of the bedroom.

They took off their clothes in a hurry, never stopping their kissing, so it was full of awkward bumps and reluctant pulling back to yank off a piece of stubborn clothing or stumble out of a sock. Then they returned to one another again, pressed against each another, completely blind to the outside world.

They fell onto the bed more than anything. They were mostly naked and Karkat sat on top of him, straddling him, as he bent down and worked on Dave's neck. Sucking and nibbling and biting. Dave didn't even mind that at one point he was pretty certain he'd gotten a hickey.

Karkat went further down, kissing along his shoulders, his chest, his nipples. He pulled off Dave's remaining underwear and kissed along his happy trail until his brushed his lips against Dave's dick.

"Condom, yes, no?" Karkat looked up at him, shortly.

Dave shook his head. "It's fine."

Then Karkat's tongue was on him, licking a trail up the underside of his cock, circling around the head before he finally wrapped his lips around him. He jerked him as he sucked, teasing his head before swallowing all of him. And Jesus, he was good at it. Even Dave wasn't that good at deep-throating yet. Even though Karkat had had a girlfriend all that time he certainly wasn't rusty.

Then he came back up and kissed Dave's jawline and chin. Dave bent down to meet his lips.

"Do you want to fuck me?" Karkat asked, raising his eyebrows.

"Is that a trick question?"

Karkat laughed and they kissed more as Dave tried to grope for proper supplies and found that it wasn't working. He had to pull away to find a condom in his jean pocket again and by then Karkat was returning with lube.

Karkat was a bottom. Almost a strict bottom, apparently, and he enjoyed preparing himself. He was also a power bottom, evidently. Because as soon as he lowered himself onto Dave he controlled the show. How fast they went, how hard he rode him, what spots he wanted Dave to hit and the angle at which they were hit. He was also kind of good, once they'd gotten used to the feeling of one another.

Dave laid back onto the bed as Karkat rode him, closing his eyes and enjoying the feeling. And then Karkat leaned over, kissing him and pulling him back up. He told him to fuck him as hard as he could go and Dave was happy to oblige, pretty soon bringing himself to orgasm and Karkat to orgasm soon afterwards.

They collapsed on top of each other. Dave tossed his condom into the trash and Karkat pulled him back down, close to him. This time they faced one another. Karkat kissed his lips, his cheeks, and all over his face. Their lips met again and Karkat sucked on his piercings and then laughed and kissed his nose.

Karkat told him he was 'kind of gorgeous'. This time Dave didn't say a muted thanks. He poked Karkat in the gut and replied that he should tell it to himself because he was too. Their lips met again. They kissed slowly before pulling back and cuddling. They fell asleep wrapped in one another's arms.


	4. Chapter 4

**CHAPTER 4**

When Karkat woke up in the morning he was groggy and grouchy. After checking that his bed-partner was still asleep and there, he stumbled to the bathroom to pee and then stumbled out to the coffee pot so he could feel alive again.

Just before the coffee was ready, he saw Dave trotting to the door, fully dressed again.

"Leaving already?" Karkat questioned, before remembering the dynamics of the situation. Dave was a prostitute. He had hired Dave for the night. After the night was done, he probably had other plans, other arrangements. He couldn't sit around one guy's house for the entire morning, especially without getting extra pay for it.

"Nevermind, that was stupid," Karkat amended, heading towards the door to see him out.

Dave was rummaging in his bag. When he stood up, he pushed something into Karkat's hand. "I can't accept this."

Karkat looked down, staring at the envelope in his hand blankly, before looking up at Dave. "Wait. Why? Did I miscount or something? I swore everything was there."

He opened up the envelope to double-check and Dave put two hands over his own. "Karkat, last night wasn't what it was supposed to be."

"Did I mess something up? I'm sorry I didn't mean to—"

"No, you don't understand. I enjoyed last night. As in… I wanted to do it. As in, I would do it even if you hadn't paid me. In fact I'd do it again. This isn't… the normal arrangement."

"Isn't that a good thing? I don't see why you should hate having sex with someone who pays you."

"I don't think I look at you as a client anymore."

The words were spit out, stumbling over themselves. Karkat stared at him for a moment, before the sentence clicked into place. "You like me."

Dave nodded slowly. Karkat could see how wide his eyes were this morning, since he'd gotten up without even putting his shades back on. And his eyes were red, bright red. They were gorgeous.

"Then maybe we should consider something a bit different," Karkat suggested. "Like dating?"

Dave's eyes widened even further. "I do not date my clients."

"You just said you didn't see me as a client."

"But the fact remains that—"

"Would you consider dating a friend?"

"That's ridiculous. You don't even know me."

"That'd be the reason for the dating. So we could get to know one another."

"You're my TA."

"I am not your TA. I was your TA for a brief moment several months ago. And I think we're long past that since you didn't seem to mind it last night. Also, that's a pretty lame excuse for not wanting to date me."

Dave paused, shifting his feet on the floor. "I'll think about it."

"Perfect. Now, since I'm no longer a client of yours, do you want breakfast? Coffee's already ready so I can get out another cup."

Karkat turned away to slide into the kitchen and pull out another coffee mug. He turned back to Dave who was running a hand through his bright hair, considering the offer.

"Alright, coffee then."

xXx

The Graduate Advisement Office was busy. Maybe everyone had just gotten back from their summer vacations and whatever else they'd been up to during the break and finally decided to check back up on academics before the Fall Semester officially began. Karkat tried to slip past unnoticed, but a group of students called his name and he looked over to find fellow classmates conversing together a few steps away.

He crossed over and joined the conversation. It soon turned into a heated discussion on which classes were actually worthwhile, what professors were actually worth their gold, and how exactly they could actually get what they wanted out of classes this time round. Last semester had come the realization that if you didn't ask for something to specifically be taught, chances are it wouldn't. So you had to ask for it in order to make sure you were actually taught what you wanted. It was a really stupid and backwards system in Karkat's opinion because how would you even know what you're missing out on being taught unless you learn it? But hey, that's what happened in this school.

He finally dragged himself away, making excuses to hang with them later—and got an invite to a party being thrown by a classmate for mingling and catching up for the new school year.

He made his way to Professor Silverman's office. Her door was open, but he knocked on it anyway before he came in, allowing her to look up and wave him in.

"Come on in. Close the door behind you."

He did so, taking a seat.

She dug out a stack of papers, sliding them onto the desk in front of him. "The Committee notes came back. The other two Professors still think you need another revision to your initial idea. I tried to argue that more clarity would come when you were actually doing the project but they wouldn't pass it as a green-light yet. Sorry, Karkat."

Karkat sighed, scowling. "It's fine. I should have expected it anyway."

"On the bright side, when it comes to actually starting on your thesis, it should be easy by then."

"Yeah, it's just the getting started process that's the problem."

"How are things otherwise? I heard about you and Rachel."

"Does everyone know about that?"

"Word spreads fast here. We're a tiny department. We thrive on gossip. But seriously, I'm sorry to hear it. She seemed like a nice girl, though I only met her once."

"Yeah, she was nice. But apparently I wasn't nice enough."

Silverman pursed her lips, taking a sip from the thermos on her desk. Karkat had a suspicion it was tea since he knew she only drank coffee in early mornings before class. "I won't pretend that I know what the problems were, but I will say that niceness isn't the only thing that holds a relationship together. Someday you'll find someone who will mesh your not-niceness with whatever they have and it'll work. Until then…" she shrugged. "Have fun with it. There's a reason why I'm not married anymore." She flashed her ring-less hand at him with a grin.

Karkat chuckled in turn.

Pleased, Silverman put down her thermos and changed the subject. "You're still TAing with me this semester, right?"

"Where else would I be?"

"We should plan things out. I was thinking of what our first-day surprise could be. How does a… piñata… caramel sauce and a rendition of "Singing in the Rain" sound?"

"Interesting. You should definitely tell me more."

xXx

That night he worked on re-drafting his thesis idea, irritated and grumbly at having to do this for what seemed like the fifth time that semester. So much for getting started early. At this rate he didn't think he would ever finish with even the outline.

When midnight came, he enrolled for his classes along with every other graduate student in his department. He'd already gotten overrides for the few classes he needed it for, so he managed to snag most of the ones he wanted exactly the way he planned. There was only one that he got to too late, forced to choose his third choice of a professor rather than the top slot. But other than that his schedule for Fall looked pretty good. He was pleased.

xXx

It was late morning when he got up. After stumbling over to the coffee pot to re-enervate himself, he made a most reluctant call to his ex-girlfriend. She answered with a sleepy voice and it was then that he remembered the time difference.

"Sorry, did I wake you?"

"It's fine. My alarm was going to wake me up soon anyway. What's up, Karkat?" Rachel yawned on the other end as she ended the sentence. He felt kind of shitty for that.

"Do you remember those history books I left there? Is there any way you could ship them to me? I kind of need them for the next draft of my thesis. They're suggesting that I do a slightly different take on it and I realized that all the research that I needed was still with you. I'll give you the money to cover it."

The line was silent for a long moment. Karkat worried that Rachel had hung up on him for a second. Or fallen asleep again. "You called about your history books?" she finally spoke into the phone.

"Yeah. Like I said, I'm sorry to wake you."

"…And here I was thinking that you'd called to say hello. Or to see how I was doing, maybe. Silly me. Of course it'd be about your research."

"This is important, Rachel."

"Obviously."

Her tone wasn't exactly the most promising. But when she fell silent again he had to needle her anyway. "….So? I can have the money in your account by tonight to cover it and—"

"No."

"I need those books, Rachel."

"I'm really tired of this. Goodbye, Karkat."

She hung up on him. Karkat sat there staring at his phone. Then he called her back. She refused to answer. He kept trying. He was probably on his fifth time when the doorbell rang. He scowled as he walked over to the door, wondering what neighbor it would be this time.

Standing on his doorstep was a pink-haired, sunglasses wearing kid, holding a huge bag full of stuff. "Yo. I stole my roommate's Wii and some games. Wanna play?"

xXx

Karkat and Dave played into the night, interrupted by a couple beers that Karkat forgot he wasn't actually legally allowed to serve his guest and a pizza that Dave hungrily devoured this time. He wasn't lying about being a meat-eater. He scarfed up the meat-lovers pizza in its entirety and then they had to order more.

Karkat found himself complaining. He complained about his thesis committee and all the hoops they were making him jump through. He complained about his ex-girlfriend and how she wouldn't help him out with it.

"She's not exactly perfect either, you know. She has problems but you don't see me complaining about them. How much I hated her cooking. How clingy she was when we first started dating—she had to call me like seven times a day to check in on what I was doing. But I still stayed with her. And if she really needed something, I'd say, I understand. I wouldn't have withheld books from her that she needs for work or a really important assignment."

Dave looked over and gave him a look. It wasn't the patient, understanding one he'd had on before when Karkat talked about her. It was a look that silently called Karkat a super dumbass as he cocked at eyebrow over his stupid thick sunglasses.

"What? Are you seriously judging me right now? I have a reason to be as angry as I am. It's absolutely ridiculous."

"You're acting like a fucking child."

"Oh, that's funny coming from you." It was a cheap shot. The age comment. You know. Cause Dave was closer to being a child than he was. Dave ignored it like the idiot comment it was.

"You could just apologize to her. She'd probably relinquish your precious books."

"I am not going to be the one to apologize to her. That's the second time she's hung up on me. The second time!"

Dave shook his head and shoved him. Karkat lost his balance and fell over sideways onto the floor. Dave ran him off the road in the video game and won immediately. He let out a triumphant laugh.

Karkat growled and rose up, shoving Dave in retaliation. This time Dave was the one to hit the floor and he dropped the controller, wrestling with Karkat. They rolled over the floor, trying to grab each other and pin the other down. Finally Karkat caught him in a headlock he couldn't get out of. He struggled until he finally waved his hand and declared it Karkat's win.

Karkat gloated like the bad winner he was.

He finally got Dave to talk a bit later. About himself, that was. He was still tight-lipped about personal information. Maybe it was pretty automatic for him after doing it for so long. So Karkat needled him about something else instead.

"Why the hell do you think Borat is better than Titanic?"

"There's no competition."

"Yeah, cause Titanic is better."

"Oh come on. Titanic is one of the most overrated and clichéd stories of all time. Everyone and their Mom has done that plot and rehashed it a million times. Titanic just decided to add a big boat onto the mix. Borat on the other hand… it's completely novel and fresh and new."

"Because it never should have been written. I can't believe it even got greenlit."

"Don't hate on the Borat."

"Don't hate on Titanic!"

"Name five things that were great and novel about Titanic."

"You want five? I'll write you an entire essay!"

Their conversation went on like this for a while. Ultimately leading to no conclusion and two very frustrated and annoyed people who were forced to "agree to disagree" once more.

But it did serve to warm Dave up somewhat. Karkat finally got him to talk about some things. How he'd been so pissed off at his roommate this morning for playing a prank on him and scaring him out of bed that he disconnected the Wii and took off with it for the day. How he was worried about the upcoming semester and even though he'd done rather well in the summer… he didn't know how he was going to fare in the fall. How he and his other friend Jade both had guardians that were dead, but she had a huge fucking inheritance and his Bro had left him with none. He hadn't even thought to put in for life insurance, probably because he was still pretty young when he died. It was a pretty sucky situation.

Karkat enjoyed seeing Dave come to life. His face glowed with passion when he debated and it showed with angry restraint when he was bitter. Karkat stared at Dave for the longest time as he spoke, noting the way that he bit his lip when he hesitated, the way his hands gestured when he got excited, the nervous way that he ran his fingers through his hair whenever he was upset about something. Karkat found himself watching him and he was completely enthralled.

xXx

Dave went home late that night, finally convinced to take the video games and console back with him after Karkat insisted that he wouldn't even touch them without Dave being there. Dave gathered everything and went to the door and then turned and kissed him goodbye before leaving.

For the next few days Karkat poured over more essays and books, adding more information to the new draft for his next thesis proposition. He'd called Rachel a few times after that, but she still refused to pick up. Maybe Dave was right about the whole apology thing, but he still definitely didn't want to apologize first. So he left it as it was.

xXx

The park was sunny and windy, for once providing relief from the constant muggy heat they'd been getting all summer. There were people out enjoying the cool day, families, old couples, teens loitering by the fountains. The birds were chirping, the pond was glistening, geese and ducks were swimming on the lake. But Karkat was grouchy and kept grumbling about being pulled away from work.

After a few minutes of this, Dave paused by a hot dog stand and asked for a cup of water. And then he promptly splashed it on Karkat's face.

This led to Karkat's confused spluttering for a second, before he came back to reality and threatened Dave with bloody murder. Karkat chased him through the park as Dave happily raced ahead of him, evading him with moves that could only be called parkour, and the flashy evasions just irritated Karkat further.

Soon, he was out of breath and Dave was completely untouched, trotting back to him with a stupid smirk on his face that Karkat wanted to wipe clean off. Dave held out a hand and Karkat took it, standing up straight. They continued on at a much more leisurely pace.

After they'd circled around the lake and confirmed that there wasn't much to do unless they wanted to take a sudden swim in the pond of goose shit, they went to see a dollar show. The theatre was playing "Some Like It Hot". There was a stringy banjo performance in place of previews, and then the movie played and they leaned against each other as they watched it. They laughed on cue and made fun of some parts, hissing jokes into each other's ears.

They both pretty much agreed that it was a fantastic movie and it was one of the only ones that they could agree on, for once. They went back to Karkat's place while discussing Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon and then rambled about what bits they liked best about it. Dave definitely had a director's mind. He focused on angles and perspective, new spaces and designs. The tricks that the director used to make the audience feel the story in their bones. Karkat was more interested in the script itself and the way that it wove the story through. The great lines that the actors had and how well they played it off.

They finally made it back to Karkat's. Karkat mentioned how sweaty and gross he was from their all-day excursion and Dave agreed they should shower as soon as possible. But they both ended up ignoring their own advice as they sank into the sofa and Dave climbed on top of him, wrapping his arms around his neck as he planted a kiss. That led into a longer, much deeper one, followed by another. And then they found themselves making out on Karkat's couch for another hour. Karkat had almost forgotten what a good kisser Dave was.

They probably would have continued on for longer if not interrupted by Dave's cell phone suddenly buzzing and interrupting them. He slid it out, glancing at the number.

"Ah shit, I gotta go. See you later?"

Karkat nodded, giving him one more kiss before they broke apart. He wondered if the message had been from one of Dave's clients; suddenly he didn't feel as thrilled as he had before. Dave fixed his clothes. He shoved his shoes on at the door and grabbed the messenger bag he'd tossed down, slinging it across his shoulders. He waved to Karkat as he left and Karkat closed the door behind him. Then he stood there, leaning against it, slowly sliding down its surface. Reality sank in.

He'd just gone on a date with a new guy that he really liked, effectively rebounding from the stalemate of a relationship his last one had become. That guy was a 19 year old undergrad. That guy also happened to be a hooker.

His life was weird.


End file.
